Grease gun filler with spring biased expansible follower



March 20, 1951 c. SANDS GREASE GUN FILLER WITH SPRING BIASED EXPANSIBLE FOLLOWER Flled Nov 2, 1949 5 659424 5.9 SAM/0s Patented Mar. 20, 1951 UNITED- PATENT- GREASE TGUN' FILLER WITH SPRING BIASED EXPANSIBLE FOLLOWE-R My invention presents improvements indevices 'for filling conventional grease guns, sowidel'y-usedfor greasing machinery of, all kinds,-fromthe-pails in which the grease-is usually supplied.

To the present-time, there'has been-no really practical and universally applicable means for filling such guns from the grease pails, although manyexpedientshave'been' proposed and some used to a certain extent. Probably the best means thus farprovided consists ofaplate which may be-placed-"inthe grease' pail, with an opening on which the open end of the-gun may be placed while thegun handle "is'pulledup on" a suction stroke to" draw' the grease-intothe -gun-=barrel through said opening. The plate acts asa fol-- lower' to prevent grease'from-getting onto the gun barrel and on the hands and" the plateis intended to wipe the inside wall of the-pail ofgrease asthe plate descends andthe grease is used'up: But it is found in actual-practice that the plate 'will not fit many pails, will 'not'work in pails which have been dented as "is so often the case, will not work in pails which are-tapered; and many times the plate-will sink'of its own weight-into the grease; particularly where the grease-=is-of a light consistency;

It is accordinglythe primary objectpf my in--' vention to provide an improved "device-ofthis nature which is self adjusting to grease'pails of varying size; within limits, of course, andwhich will work with-facility in grease pails having the usual dents in their side walls.

Another object is; to. provide a. device for the purposes. stated. which. will. operate. .Witha constant wiping or scraping effect .onthe pail walls.

as the grease is used up and which will'work on tapered pails which gradually' diminish in diameter toward their bottoms StillJanother object is. to providea grease gun fillen which is completely foolproof and embodies spring biasedgexpanding, elements which not only make it accommodate itselfto pails of differing sizes, but ensure awiping or scraping ac- 2" ona larger scale, of the devicemaking up my invention.

Fig- 3 is a topplan'view;

Referring now more particularly and by reference cha-racters to the drawing, A designates: a conventional grease pail having a cylindrical wall B' extending upwardly from a closed bottom C-and with an open upper end-DZ! The upper. end of the pail is usually closed by a removable oover:which is here not shown, a conventional: grease gunis also shown,". designated 'generally at. E, 'andsaid gun includes .a :cylindrical barrel I having a filling endiG exteri'orly' threaded as 1 indicated: When-in 'use'the'fillinguendof the: gun is closed hy theusual discharge .cap (not shown) but, fo'r'filling'such-capis, of course, removed. The gun also includes the usual plunger H. which may be reciprocated'bya plunger or handle-I for ejecting thegrease when the gun is in use, or for pulling up the plunger tolidraw in a. charge of grease through the filling vendwhen the xgunzis being filled, all as will be understood and asiswell known to @those'skilled; inthe art. The grease pai1s.-A..m-any times are taperedythat is; decrease in: diameter downwardly; as here shown,.and almost'invariablythe wall B is-morei or less dented.

My invention comprises a generallycircular plate It of metal or the like, centrally of whichj there' is formed an opening H with anrupstand ing tapped collar IZIinto. which the threaded-end Gsof the grease. gunrbarrel may be screwed: When not so in use,:the opening. 1 l maybexclosed: by. a :plug i3 screwed. into the collar as shown in Fig.3; As'best shown in Fig. 2,? thezplate lil'has a-t-marginal flange I l "aroundLappmXimately'i'a. thirdzof its: periphery, this; flange depending downward from: what in 'use .is. the. lowerv sideof. the plate.

The plate; It. .is; smallergin diameterthan the smallest grease pai li'it is to :fit; it: being: under:

, stoodgofscoursepthat. the plates may ibe'made-ini anumber hf sizes .to fit pailsofmarkedly differ entxsizes, and: within reason :tli eydevice will then: fit a number of pail sizes. I find that conventional grease pails vary in diameter over the country, due largely to the fact that the pails are manufactured at different points to take care of the trade over certain well defined geographical and trade areas.

Associated with the plate 10, in order to fit it to the grease pails, is a pair of expander elements or wings l5 each having marginal flanges I6 and being arcuate in shape. Adjacent one end each, expander element I5 is pivoted at I! to the plate l B while at their opposite ends the elements overlap, as seen at I8 and are angularly (or arcuately) slotted at 19 to slidably engage a headed rivet 20 on the plate. The pivoted ends of the expander elements are extended beyond the pivots themselves and bent downwardly away from the plate at 2i and apertured to engage the ends of a retractile coil spring 22. It will be noted that the pivots l1 and rivet 2e are all spaced apart about one-third around the plate and that the flanges l6 extend inside the ends of the flange M.

The spring 22, by drawing the ends of the expander elements together, expands their opposite ends as will be understood, swinging them about their pivots, and the flanges l4 and 36 thus form a larger circle than the plate ll] itself. To then put the device to use, the expander elements are forced in and the device inserted into the pail with the flanges downward, the spring immediately expanding said elements, causing the flanges all to engage the inside of the pail with a frictional, self-adjusting fit, which will obviously accommodate itself to irregularities such as dents, etc. in the pail wall. The frictional engagement is further such that the device will not sink into the grease, and when the grease gun is to be filled, it may be screwed into the collar !2 and grease readily pulled into the gun barrel without getting it on the gun itself. The accommodating or compensating action of the spring biased expanders makes the device perfectly usable in tapered grease pails and. as to the desirable scraping or wiping action which cleans the inside walls of the pail of grease, as the device descends therein, this is facilitated not only by the spring bias in the expander but by the fact that the flanges i4 and i6 interflt immediately adjacent the pivots ll about which the expanders swing so that no gaps result between the flanges.

It is understood that suitable modifications may be made in the structure as disclosed, provided such modifications come within the spirit and scope of the appended claims. Having now therefore fully illustrated and described my invention, what I claim to be new and desire to protect by Letters Patent is:

1. A device for filling a grease gun from a grease pail, comprising a plate adapted to fit into the pail and having an opening and means for holding the grease gun while grease is drawn up from the pail through said opening, and spring urged expander elements mounted on the plate and operative to automatically adjust and compensate the effective diameter of the device according to the size of the pail, the said expander elements being pivoted adjacent one end to the plate and having slots at their opposite ends, and rivet means on the plate in said slots.

2. A device for filling a grease gun from a grease pail, comprising a plate adapted to fit into the pail and having an opening and means for holding the grease gun while grease is drawn up from the pail through said opening, and

spring urged expander elements mounted on the plate and operative to automatically adjust and compensate the effective diameter of the device according to the size of the pail, the said expander elements being pivoted adjacent one end to the plate and having slots at their opposite ends, and rivet means on the plate in said slots, the slotted ends of the expander elements being overlapped.

3. In a device of the character described, a generally circular plate having grease gun engaging and filling means, said plate having a marginal flange around approximately one-third of its periphery, a pair of expander elements each arcuate in shape and pivoted adjacent one end to the plate near the point at which the flange thereon ends, the opposite ends of the expander elements being overlapped and angularly slotted, a headed rivet in the plate engaging in said slots, and the expander elements also having marginal flanges.

4. In a device of the character described, a generally circular plate having grease gun engaging and filling means, said plate having a marginal flange around approximately one-third of its periphery, a pair of expander elements each arcuate in shape and pivoted adjacent one end to the plate near the point at which the flange thereon ends, the opposite ends of the expander element being overlapped and angularly slotted, a headed rivet on the plate engaging in said slots, the expander elements also having marginal flanges, and a spring engaged with the expander elements to swing them apart on their pivots.

5. In a device of the character described, a generally circular plate having grease gun engaging and filling means, said plate having a marginal flange around approximately one-third of its periphery, a pair of expander elements each arcuate in shape and pivoted adjacent one end to the plate near the point at which the flange thereon ends, the opposite ends of the expander elements being overlapped and angularly slotted, a headed rivet on the plate engaging in said slots, the expander elements also having marginal flanges, the pivoted ends of the expander elements having extended and offset portions, and an expansion coil spring stretched between said portions to spread the expander elements.

CHARLES SANDS.

REFERENCES CITED The following references are of record in the flle of this patent:

UNITED STATES PATENTS Number Name Date 1,828,188 Jackson Oct. 20, 1931 2,301,933 Eberhart Nov. 17, 1942 FOREIGN PATENTS Number Country Date 191,294 Great Britain Jan. 11, 1923 

